Stop losing money to stock that expires on the shelf

Pesticides, bio-products and seed packets all carry an expiry date. A fertilizer bag mostly does not, which is why the habits learned on urea do not work for the rest of the shelf. A bottle that expires unsold is a full loss: you paid for it, you cannot sell it, and for a pesticide you cannot just throw it away.

Why “first in, first out” is not enough

Most shops sell the oldest stock first. That works only when every lot has the same shelf life. It does not. A distributor may send a newer bottle with a shorter date, or you may pick up a lot at a discount because its date is close. Sell by arrival and the short-dated lot sits behind the long-dated one until it expires.

First expiry, first out (FEFO) sells whichever batch expires soonest, regardless of when it arrived. It needs one thing: the expiry date written against each batch when stock comes in.

Record batch and expiry on the day stock arrives

Write the batch number and expiry month from the pack, for every product that has one, when you enter the purchase. It takes a minute per bill. Without it, no system, paper or software, can tell you what expires next.

A weekly expiry routine

1. Every week, list what expires in the next 30 days, and separately the next 60.
2. For the 30-day list: keep it at the front of the counter, recommend it where it genuinely suits the crop, and ask the distributor whether they take short-dated returns.
3. For the 60-day list: stop reordering that product until the stock moves.
4. Look at dead stock monthly. Anything unsold for 90 days is a buying mistake worth understanding before the next season’s order.

When stock does expire

For pesticides, the Insecticides Rules require date-expired stock to be kept separate from saleable stock, marked as not for sale, and recorded. It must not be sold or repacked. Record the write-off with the product, batch, quantity and reason, so your stock and your pesticide register stay correct, and follow your state’s instructions for disposal.

Do the same for damaged or lost stock, with its own reason, so the difference between your books and your shelf always has an explanation.

Buy so less expires

• For slow-moving pesticides, buy smaller lots more often, even at a slightly higher price
• Check the expiry date on the distributor’s delivery before you sign for it
• Keep an eye on the dates of products bought on a scheme or bulk discount; they are the ones most often short-dated

How AgroPay handles expiry

AgroPay records batch, expiry month and cost for every purchase, including batches read from a scanned supplier bill. At the counter it takes stock from the batch that expires first, skips expired batches, and shows an expiry warning on the product tile when its nearest expiry is within 60 days. The dashboard lists lots expiring within 30 days, Item Movement shows dead stock, and Stock Write-off lists expired batches first and records the reason.

How stock and expiry work in AgroPay.